31 Of The Most Shocking Teen Drama Betrayals Of All Time
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Hi, my name is Kelly, and I watch way too many teen dramas. From Degrassi: The Next Generation to Euphoria, there's no shortage of shows I love.
Yeah, yeah, I know I have a problem. Shush.
One of my favorite things about teen dramas is, well, the drama of them! I honestly love seeing all the chaos and fallout that comes with everyone making very bad decisions all the time. But man, these TV characters can be BRUTAL sometimes. There are some plots from years ago that I honestly still think about and get angry over to this very day.
So, I thought I'd make a mega-list of the biggest teen drama betrayals and scandals of all time. Obviously, some are far worse and less forgivable than others. Without further ado, here are 31 of the most shocking:
WARNING: Spoilers ahead, including for Season 2 of Euphoria and the Season 1 finale of Cruel Summer!!!
Note: Some of the following contain references to abuse, sexual assault, and suicide.
1.First, when Lucas cheated on Brooke with her best friend, Peyton, multiple times on One Tree Hill.
Look, I'm a Brucas apologist (I know, I know — sue me), but Lucas was and will forever be awful for this. I do like Peyton's character, but it was hard for me to get past this betrayal, honestly. The fact that it happened multiple times was just...ugh.
2.When Dan shot and killed his own brother, Keith, on One Tree Hill.
This one takes the cake for one of the most shocking betrayals on all of TV, in my opinion. Keith deserved so much better!
3.When Nathan and Brooke's sex tape from years ago was revealed at a party on One Tree Hill.
This one honestly still pisses me off. It felt pretty out of character for Brooke to sleep with Nathan immediately after he broke up with Peyton, even in her party girl days, and I can't help but feel like it was just added in at the last minute to make Peyton and Brooke "even" with all the Lucas drama. Brooke and Nathan both being wasted in the video was also...not great? If anything, this whole thing just made me uncomfortable. However, it was so shocking that it definitely deserves a spot on the list.
4.When Cassie hooked up with her best friend Maddy's ex-boyfriend, Nate, behind her back on Euphoria.
Sigh, Euphoria has really made it difficult to root for Cassie this season. I think it's important to remember that Cassie didn't necessarily know what we as an audience know about Nate physically and psychologically abusing Maddy, but this was obviously still really bad on several levels. This reveal scene was iconic, though — I don't think I've ever gasped louder at the TV.
5.When Paige literally tried to drown Emily on Pretty Little Liars.
And then Emily still dated her?? It's actually infuriating that Paige was Emily's longest relationship on the show. I know she was going through a lot, but Paige gave off bad vibes from day one.
6.When Toby worked with the A Team to "protect" Spencer and then let her think he was dead on Pretty Little Liars.
Freeform
As much as I liked Spencer and Toby together — at least in the early seasons — I have a really hard time forgiving Toby for this one. I know he thought he was protecting Spencer or whatever, but she literally had a mental breakdown because of this.
7.When Ezra revealed that he'd known Aria's age from the beginning and that he'd initially started dating her because he was writing a book on Alison, who he also had an inappropriate relationship with, on Pretty Little Liars.
Let's be honest: This "relationship" was predatory and never should have been a thing in the first place. But finding out that Ezra knew exactly who Aria was and how old she was from their very first meeting at the bar — and that he had a fling with Ali, who was also underage — just upped the creepy factor to 1,000.
8.When Paige went to the police and told them Alison was alive, putting her in danger, after Emily had begged her not to on Pretty Little Liars.
Again, Paige continues to suck.
9.When Serena and Nate slept together at a wedding while he was dating her best friend, Blair, on Gossip Girl.
Whewwwww. An iconic Blair line for sure. Nate and Serena hooking up happens before the show starts, but it's still too juicy to leave out here.
10.When Chuck traded Blair for a hotel on Gossip Girl.
Yeah, I...I really have no words here. As much as I loved a good Gossip Girl scandal, Chuck really went too far here. It was definitely one of the most shocking moments of the whole show.
11.When Serena secretly recorded her and Dan having sex to get revenge on Blair on Gossip Girl.
GOD, SERENA. This one just gets worse and worse the more I think about it.
12.When, after all this time, Dan was finally revealed as Gossip Girl on Gossip Girl.
The CW
Alright, we all agree this ending was ridiculous, right? I mean, it legitimately makes no sense. I can't get over how Serena calls Gossip Girl a "love letter" — Serena, that is NOT a love letter!!!
13.When Craig cheated on Ashley with Manny and got the latter pregnant, and then Ashley exposed the pregnancy to the entire school on Degrassi: The Next Generation.
I'm not sure who the biggest offender is here, TBH — it probably goes to Craig for literally getting someone pregnant while he had a girlfriend, but Ashley outing the pregnancy to the entire school was also pretty messed up. These teens were a MESS, but I lived for it.
14.When Emma dated Peter knowing that he had filmed her best friend, Manny, while she was drunk and then sent a topless video of her around to the whole school on Degrassi: The Next Generation.
CTV
Obviously, Peter is garbage, but Emma...I cannot defend you on this one. This storyline gives me major Cassie/Maddy/Nate from Euphoria vibes, and that is not a good thing.
15.When Zoë hooked up with Zig (who was dating Maya at the time) and secretly recorded it on Degrassi: Next Class. Basically, Zoë was blindsided and hurt that Grace told her she wasn't gay after they had sex, so she hooked up with Grace's crush and showed her the evidence.
God, I love Zoë to death, but the girl certainly knew how to wreak havoc. This entire storyline was a mess and pissed so many people off. I will, however, admit it was one of the most scandalous things to happen on the show in awhile.
16.When Dylan and Kelly got together while Brenda, Dylan's girlfriend and Kelly's best friend, was away in Paris for the summer on Beverly Hills, 90210.
Unpopular opinion, but I never thought Dylan and Brenda were that great together in the first place. Still, this was pretty shocking. There's a reason people still discuss this love triangle nearly three decades later.
17.When Naomi's sister manipulated and slept with her sister's boyfriend, Liam, after prom and let everyone think it was Annie on 90210.
I don't think we as a society have discussed how WILD this truly was. Naomi walking in on Liam right after he had sex with someone else was messed up enough on its own, but to have it be her own sister?! And then Annie was ostracized by her friend group for months because everyone thought it was her, and Liam just...didn't say anything to correct that? Major yikes.
18.When Adrianna swapped Silver's bipolar medication to "get even with her" for hooking up with her boyfriend, Navid, on 90210.
OK, I liked Adrianna's character a lot initially, but this was way, way too far. In fact, I think it's one of the worst things a TV character has ever done to a friend, period. Granted, Silver and Navid weren't totally innocent in the situation since they did hook up behind Adrianna's back, but what Adrianna did was so much worse. Silver literally was planning to kill herself over it.
19.When Archie revealed that he actually wrote the song for Betty, not Veronica, on the dance floor at prom on Riverdale.
I am a Barchie shipper, but I definitely felt bad for Veronica here. It gave me major flashbacks to Lucas telling Brooke about the kiss between him and Peyton on One Tree Hill.
20.When Omar cheated on Ander with his sister's boyfriend while Ander was going through chemotherapy on Elite.
I know we've all discussed it to death at this point, but I couldn't not include this on the list. It was so shocking and felt super out of character for Omar — not only did he cheat on Ander, but he betrayed his own sister too. To be honest, though, I think Omander unfortunately went downhill after Season 2, which is a shame, because they used to be one of my favorite couples.
21.When Asher gave the team's playbook to their rival team because he was mad that he was forced to sit out of the game on All American.
I actually really do like Asher's character most of the time, but man, the guy sure makes a lot of dumb decisions. This was one of the worst.
22.When Zoya began dating Obie, her sister's ex-boyfriend, immediately after the two broke up on Gossip Girl (2021).
I know Julien eventually says she's cool with it, but this still feels so shady to me. How do you immediately start dating your sister's ex? It was weird on Obie's part too. I don't know; this whole ship is just bleh to me.
23.When Ben and Adrian had sex in his car — which resulted in Adrian getting pregnant — because they were both upset that Amy and Ricky kissed on The Secret Life of the American Teenager.
This scene shook my middle school self to my core when I first watched it. SO much pain and heartbreak could have been avoided if Ben and Adrian hadn't had this stupid revenge hookup.
24.When Scott didn't believe his best friend, Stiles, when Theo tried to convince him that Stiles purposefully killed Donovan on Teen Wolf.
Oof. I understand Scott was being manipulated by Theo, but this one was rough to watch, especially because Stiles and Scott's friendship had always been such a central part of the show. Having Scott not trust him really broke my heart.
25.When Julie slept with Luke, her teenage daughter's ex-boyfriend, on The O.C.
Like many The O.C. fans, I did eventually grow to love Julie, but I always forget about this storyline. This was just so many levels of awful, and the storyline definitely didn't age well considering Luke was only 18 and in high school at the time. Sheesh!
26.When Ani hooked up with Bryce knowing he was a sexual abuser and that he had raped her friend Jessica on 13 Reasons Why.
Ani...girl, NO. That's all I have to say about this one.
27.When Rachel cheated on Finn with Puck because she found out he slept with Santana before they were together on Glee.
God, I still remember gasping when I watched this episode live. Even for a show that included a muppet-themed episode, this was truly still one of the most shocking things to ever happen on Glee.
28.When Ginny slept with Max's twin brother, Marcus, and she found out, causing everything to blow up between the entire friend group at Max's play on Ginny & Georgia.
OK, so I honestly don't think this was that big of a betrayal on Ginny's part — at least, not against Max. Like yeah, it was shitty she cheated on Hunter and didn't tell Max she wasn't a virgin, but did her hooking up with Max's brother really mean she and Max couldn't be friends anymore? I will say that the big hallway confrontation was one of my favorite teen drama scenes of all time, though.
29.When Rory and Dean had an affair while he was married to Lindsay on Gilmore Girls.
I wish we could say Rory learned from this, but... Well, if you've seen Gilmore Girls: A Year in the Life, you know how it goes. Dean definitely got married too young and too quickly, but it still didn't excuse him cheating on Lindsay, and it wasn't cool on Rory's part either.
30.When Clarke shot and killed Bellamy over a sketchbook — and then didn't even take the sketchbook — on The 100.
I was never a Bellarke shipper myself, but I definitely understand why this pissed so many people off. Not only did she kill her best friend over a sketchbook, she didn't even TAKE the sketchbook. WTF??
31.And finally, when it was revealed that Jeanette heard Kate cry out for help in Martin's basement and just left her there for months on Cruel Summer.
No words necessary.
